Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Don't Hold Hands Ade and Elsa are two 7th grade girls from Indonesia who joined our school couple months ago. I teach them Physical Science. They have well-developed English skills. Although they have an accent, they can communicate with teachers and fellow students. I am very sensitive to the needs of newly-arrived immigrant students, so I paid close attention when I heard rumors from other students about them. Students started spreading that Ade and Elsa were in a lesbian relationship. Apparently Ade and Elsa heard about the rumors; they came to me in tears. I asked them to tell me what was going on. What I found out was very interesting. Ade and Elsa have known each other since they were small children and they have always been best friends. Their families decided to move to the US together. Their fathers applied for jobs in the same company. They both received offers and moved together. Ade and Elsa were excited about going to the same school in US and continuing their friendship. In Indonesia, same-gender friends holding hands is very common and indicates friendship. When children at our school saw Ade and Elsa holding hands they thought that Ade and Elsa were in a lesbian relationship. I have to do something about this. I see two options before me: I will explain to the children in my classes that friends holding hands in some cultures is completely normal, or I will tell Ade and Elsa to not hold hands to avoid these rumors. The second option seems culturally insensitive, but if Ade and Elsa continue holding hands, rumors will continue even if I explain to my students the cultural side of their friendship. What should I do? If you have an original solution to this issue, please advice. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) In an ideal situation, I would recommend all of the teachers to meet together to develop lessons regarding cultural sensitivity. To address this issue with the two girls' expression of friendship, I would begin the lesson by having friends of the same sex in my classroom pair up. I would then ask the students to hug. I would facilitate a discussion by having the students answer if hugging meant that they identified with a particular sexual orientation. Then, I would provide the students with examples from other cultures of how ideas such as respect, love, disdain, and friendship are expressed in different cultures through verbal and physical body language. Finally, I would ask the students to write down reasons why an individual would discriminate against someone else based upon a cultural difference. Specifically, I would address the issue of homosexuality since this seemed to be a factor in this particular situation.